AUSTRALASIA ILLUSTRATED. 



and having a depth of thirteen feet at average spring-tides. But this is now devoted 

 merely to the use of coasting vessels, for on February, 1888, his Excellency the 

 Governor, assisted by Rear-Admiral Fairfax, opened on the northern side of the Harbour 

 the Calliope Dock, which ranks as the largest in the colonies. Its dimensions are five 

 hundred feet long, eighty feet wide at entrance, and thirty-three feet depth of water 

 on the sill at high-water. It is provided with a temporary head, so that in 

 case of necessity the Dock may be lengthened. Its capacity and solidity have 

 been sufficiently tested by the fact that, on the day of opening, H.Jl/.S. Diamond and 

 Calliope were both received into it, and remained for several days. The next largest 

 docks in Australasia are "the Fitzroy Dock at Sydney, the Alfred Dock at Melbourne, 

 and the dock at Lyttelton, which are four hundred and fifty feet long, and have much 

 less depth of water on the sill. The Calliope Dock cost the Auckland Harbour Board 

 one hundred and thirty-five thousand pounds for construction, and the machinery required 

 for it will involve an outlay of twenty-six thousand pounds additional. 



It is a fortunate thing for Auckland that its Harbour Board is the wealthiest 

 corporation of the kind in New Zealand. With an endowment of fifteen miles of fore- 

 shore it has made extensive reclamations on the city-front, and derives a considerable 

 revenue from leasehold rents, while its resources will develope with the growth of the 

 place. Its handsome offices, three storeys high, and crowned with numerous small turrets, 

 stand on reclaimed ground between the Queen Street Wharf and the smaller dock. 

 Hard by is the Sailors' Home, erected in 1887 out of moneys bequeathed for the 

 purpose by an old and wealthy resident of Auckland, named Mr. Edward Costley. This 

 man, with his frugal habits and simple mode of life, amassed great wealth, which at his 

 death he left to be divided among seven public institutions of his adopted home, viz., 

 the Free Library, the Museum, the Sailors' Home, the Old People's Refuge, the Training 

 School for Neglected Children, the Parnell Orphan Home and the Hospital. His estate, 

 when realized, brought in a sum of twelve thousand seven hundred and fifty pounds for 

 each of. these schemes, and the bulk of the money has been invested for their benefit. 



The Queen Street Wharf is the seaward extension of the main thoroughfare of the 

 city. Although the conformation of the ground has undergone considerable alteration for 

 the purposes of traffic, it is still evident from the slope of the lateral streets that 

 Queen Street was originally the hollow between two hills. It has a straight run back 

 from the water of upwards of half a mile, and then taking a slight bend to the west- 

 ward, and increasing its gradient, it reaches the top of the ridge along which the 

 Karangahape Road extends itself. It is a handsome street of shops, stores and hotels 

 of varying height, of many architectural designs, and of durable material, brick with 

 stucco being most used. In fact, Auckland may be said to have completed its transi- 

 tion from the wooden age, and to be well advanced in the age of brick. Within the 

 building area of the city proper and its limits have been enlarged the City Council 

 will not now permit the erection of wooden structures. The most striking and imposing 

 edifices in Queen Street are the Palmerston Buildings, a four-storey pile at the entrance 

 to the Wharf ; the new offices of the Mutual Life Association of Australasia, built of 

 yellowish stone and four storeys high ; the New Zealand Insurance Company's buildings, 

 surmounted by a tower containing the town clock with large dials on three of its sides ; 



